Deer Culls: Shot for a Tulip

I don't live in Cayuga Heights, but I've learned way too much about the business of culling (ie killing) deer in urban areas, since they started doing it in MY town 3 months ago. "Volunteer" sharpshooters in tree stands shooting deer in the park directly in view of residents' homes. Then they drag them (tastefully covered in tarps) up to the street and into a pickup truck for disposal. This isn't in the "country" either, it's a densely populated residential area.

A group of citizens was able to thwart this year's cull using protests and the legal system. But they still managed to kill 15 deer, (not even half their goal) and are gearing up to do it again next year. This is happening all over the country and it's literally torn my (previously) peaceful town apart.

I dunno, maybe I'm just a tree-hugging old hippie bambi lover, but to me it's just sickening and barbaric and it's happening in many, many communities across the country. Some allow citizens with bow and arrows to shoot at the deer from their front porches. What do you all think?

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These people don't give a fuck about YOU or us. It's a message board, for Christ's sake. ~ mrs.v ~~"Fuck off! Aim higher! Get a life! Get away from me!" ~the lovely and talented Miss Julia Roberts~

Same thing is happening near Tyler ,TX. I totally disagree and I love deer. They are overrun, the deer are starving and so small. It is pathetic! You can hardly drive 10 feet without seeing some. The yards are stripped clean and the poor deer are pitiful. The deer were imported & residents refuse to let them be culled. Meant to hold around 900 or so deer and a few thousand over that. Everytime I visit it is so depressing! What should be a perfect setting is far out of control. The quality of life for those deer is non existent. This isn't protecting deer at all.

I didn't start out to collect diamonds, but somehow they just kept piling up.-Mae West

I think that culls are important but that they need to be managed properly. Forgive me but sharpshooters in hides so the deer are not stressed is best. Bow and arrows (unless a sacred cultural thing) not so much, however I'm lead to understand that modern crossbows are, when used by a professional, as effective as a rifle & noiseless so it doesn't scare (& stress) the rest of the herd.

I completely understand that culls are upsetting & difficult to understand. I also understand that I live in a rural area & have a different perspective on these things.

It's interesting that you comment that this cull is taking place in an urban area. I would think that one of the reasons is to also stop traffic hitting the deer & breaking their legs & injuring them without killing them, which might lead to a slow death at the roadside.

Despite everything I've written here, I'm glad that I cannot see the video, and when they cull the foxs locally (I'm sure you already know my views on those little b*stards), I make sure that I am well out of the way. Hypocritical of me I know, but there it is.

Hopefully this cull is being run by the USDA/State Unit, along "proper lines"; that would be your first line of enquiry if you have any doubts?

I've done a lot of research on the issue, and it's very complicated. Deer hunting is big business in the Midwest U.S., bringing millions of dollars in revenue. The deer basically only exist to die in the name of "recreation." So the States have no intention of reducing the herds overall.

When the deer decide to make residential areas their home, the States basically do nothing except grant the permits needed to kill them. It's up to the towns to hire the sharpshooters and pay for all related costs. My town is surrounded by National Parks and forests, so it will be a never-ending process. If we kill 50 a year, more will come to take their place, because we've created such an attractive habitat for them. It's like a candy store for deer.

McJag, our deer aren't starving. At all. And we're not overrun either. There are definitely more deer than 3 years ago, and they're not afraid to come out in the open. I agree if there is chronic wasting disease or starvation, they would need to be culled for the health of the entire herd. But that's not the case here. People don't like them cleaning out the birdfeeders, eating their ornamental plants and pooping in their yards. But instead of changing OUR habitat to drive them back into the woods where they belong, they just want to shoot them. It's a vicious cycle. I really don't want to see this become an annual event in my town, but that's where it's headed.

These people don't give a fuck about YOU or us. It's a message board, for Christ's sake. ~ mrs.v ~~"Fuck off! Aim higher! Get a life! Get away from me!" ~the lovely and talented Miss Julia Roberts~

Unfortunately, I'm learning there are no easy answers. I was just venting, I guess. It probably shouldn't shock me that people would rather shoot first and ask questions later. This is America after all!

We do have a pressure group, and the powers that be don't like us at all. So now I'm an "activist" with a target on my back. Too late to stop now. FML, lol.

Thanks for listening!

These people don't give a fuck about YOU or us. It's a message board, for Christ's sake. ~ mrs.v ~~"Fuck off! Aim higher! Get a life! Get away from me!" ~the lovely and talented Miss Julia Roberts~

I think that culls are important but that they need to be managed properly. Forgive me but sharpshooters in hides so the deer are not stressed is best. Bow and arrows (unless a sacred cultural thing) not so much, however I'm lead to understand that modern crossbows are, when used by a professional, as effective as a rifle & noiseless so it doesn't scare (& stress) the rest of the herd.

I completely understand that culls are upsetting & difficult to understand. I also understand that I live in a rural area & have a different perspective on these things.
It's interesting that you comment that this cull is taking place in an urban area. I would think that one of the reasons is to also stop traffic hitting the deer & breaking their legs & injuring them without killing them, which might lead to a slow death at the roadside.

Despite everything I've written here, I'm glad that I cannot see the video, and when they cull the foxs locally (I'm sure you already know my views on those little b*stards), I make sure that I am well out of the way. Hypocritical of me I know, but there it is.

Hopefully this cull is being run by the USDA/State Unit, along "proper lines"; that would be your first line of enquiry if you have any doubts?

Hugs to you!

Yes, this is a very big part of it, at least in the suburbs where my parents live. They say that the deadliest animal to humans in the US is deer, due to traffic accidents. About 1.5 million accidents per year involve deer. The deer usually get the worst of it.

Sometimes the culls are for sickness. In the midwest a few years back they found bovine TB in the deer, and had to do a large cull.

This is interesting in regard to population density:

Deer thrive in "edge" ecosystems, where cut-over forests meet farm fields and the cultivated vegetation of subdivisions and office parks. As their density increases, they wipe out flowering plants, woody shrubs and tree saplings that make up the forest "understory", anything from ground level up to about six feet

While biologists say that 10 deer per square mile is all that a healthy forest can support, the population has reached 40-50 in some rural areas, with some estimates as high as 100 in a square mile in highly developed Eastern suburbs.Deer News - The New York Times

It's no longer a dog whistle, it's a fucking trombone

All of God's children are not beautiful. Most of God's children are, in fact, barely presentable.

I've personally known and cared for people who are lucky to be alive after a deer jumped out in front of their vehicle. One lady who ended up with a deer in the backseat of her SUV. They're everywhere where I live. Especially out by my mom's. The dark wooded winding road to her neighborhood/house is where they love to cross and I'm terrified of this happening to her. She's grazed one (or vice versa) at least twice. About a half dozen times come upon one in the road and had to stop.

They're beautiful creatures. I used to be able to look out my mom's kitchen window and see a few in the distance on her land before they darted back into the woods. Not sure if I could shoot one myself unless I was starving (or one coming straight for me, which certainly wouldn't be deliberate on the part of the deer). But I'm truly grateful for the number of folks here who hunt them. Otherwise we'd really be overrun. And at least the majority I know who do hunt eat the deer meat.

If a deer has to die, I feel better about one going down with a gunshot as opposed to getting hit by a vehicle, which is usually pretty gruesome and doesn't always kill them or kill them straight away.

My Posts Have Won Awards. Can Any Of You Claim The Same? -ur_next_ex"I don't have pet peeves. I have major psychotic fucking hatreds, okay". ~George Carlin

There's a deer cull every February in my town; every Tuesday & Thursday they shut down the main road for the hunters (makes the morning commute fun fun fun!). So sad to think of it, they are such beautiful creatures. The only good thing is they donate all the meat to local food banks, so at least it's not a total waste.

DeChayz, was there any opposition in your town, or is it just something that's accepted? Just curious.

Re deer vehicle accidents, I agree with you all that it's a definite issue. I've had a handful of near-misses over the years, one that was particularly frightening. But those are on the State roads and highways, when cars are traveling at higher speeds.

This is something that should be handled on a State level, but as long as the hunting dollars rule, it's all lip service and collateral damage to them. They'll set up Urban Kill Zones with special antlerless (doe) permits to address the "problem," but when they sell 250,000 permits per year and only 150,000 deer are bagged, that leaves a lot of unhappy hunters and they don't want unhappy hunters.

btw, accidents in my town are very very rare, our speed limits are 20-25 MPH. Yes, I've had to stop to let them cross the road, but I've never come close to hitting one. I've actually seen them look both ways before crossing! They are quite used to living among humans now.

Oh, and sorry for rambling; I know way too much about this subject now, and the more I know the more it pisses me off. Deerfesto!

These people don't give a fuck about YOU or us. It's a message board, for Christ's sake. ~ mrs.v ~~"Fuck off! Aim higher! Get a life! Get away from me!" ~the lovely and talented Miss Julia Roberts~

I think most people don't LIKE it - even those implementing the program said "It's not just about culling deer — I love deer, I'm not a hunter — this is a necessity...there's nothing left for the deer to eat." - but they accept that it's a necessary evil. It's not just culling, though, they're also replanting vegetation and installing high-frequency devices that go off when cars are approaching to deter deer from running in the road, so in a way, it's also beneficial to the deer.